My dog has a collapsed trachea. How can I prevent pneumonia?

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that Cassie was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, but I'm glad to hear that she is getting treated with antibiotics. Your idea of trying to feed small amounts at a time may help her, especially if you can try to form the food into little meatballs (if it is wet food). If she normally eats dry food, you can moisten the dry food and form it into little meatball-shaped pieces. This make be easier for her to swallow and cause her to cough less afterwards. That being said, coughing is not a bad thing when dogs have aspiration pneumonia. Coughing means their body is trying to cough up the mucus and phlegm that is down in their airways, and bring it up and out so they can breathe better. Her historical collapsing trachea should not make it difficult for her to swallow fluids, although it may contribute to her coughing. As long as Cassie still has a good appetite, is drinking, and is able to keep fluids and food down (ie not vomiting), she may just require more time to get back to normal. Antibiotics can take several days before we see a clinical response. If she does not improve or you are ever concerned about her coughing or breathing, I recommend having her seen by your veterinarian, as a different therapy may be needed. I hope this is helpful - wishing you the best with Cassie!

Typically, medical management of collapsing trachea includes cough suppressants such as hydrocodone, tapering doses of prednisone or inhaled steroids such as fluticasone. If Chaisey has developed an acute worsening of symptoms, thoracic radiographs and an airway wash should be considered to rule out infection. Albuterol is typically not helpful in my experience.

A narrow trachea could indeed be the cause of aspiration pneumonia in dogs, because they can have difficulties breathing they may need to take a breath while eating or drinking which causes aspiration pneumonia in some cases.

Usually dogs with collapsed trachea will show signs (honking cough, possible breathing problems, eating, drinking, tracheal irritants (smoke or dust), obesity, and hot and humid weather.) after exercise, or excitement or jumping up and down. Treatment consists of giving cough suppressants, bronchodilators, corticosteroids to control inflammation, and/or antibiotics. In obese patients, weight loss helps decrease respiratory effort. In severe cases surgery is needed.

Some dogs with tracheal collapse need to stay on hydrocodone long term and also a bronchodilator. You should call your vet and give him/her an update and maybe your vet can just prescribe additional medications without having to take him back to the vet.

Hello, and thank you for your question. If Lacy is only coughing once or twice at night, you can ask your vet about trying a cough suppressant for the night time only. However, if she is coughing frequently at night, I'd also want to rule out heart disease as an underlying cause. Coughing due to heart disease often happens during rest, as fluid accumulates in their lungs when they are lying on their sides. Chest x-rays would be necessary to rule this out. For dogs with collapsing trachea that cough regularly at all hours, you can ask your vet about using a bronchodilator, and/or inhaled steroids, which get the medicine directly into her lungs where she needs it, with minimal absorption into the rest of her body, in turn minimizing side effects of steroids. Check out the Aerodawg, which is an inhaler designed just for dogs. However, as stated earlier, if her coughing is minimal, just a cough suppressant at night may be enough. In addition, switching to a harness instead of a collar can be very helpful, as it minimizes pressure on the trachea when the dog is pulling on the leash. I hope this helps, and that Lacy is doing well!

Unfortunately no, collagen supplements will not help, you are correct. Most cases of it are treated with cough suppressants, bronchodilators, corticosteroids (to control inflammation), and/or antibiotics. Keeping Ghost at a healthy weight is very important as well. If medical management does not show improvement in two weeks, or the dog's quality of life is severely affected, surgery is recommended. I hope this helps!